Doty shot 47 and dropped a 3&2 decision to Connor Knight (45). Pillar and North Pocono's Nick Mokey authored identical scores of 43, but wound up on the short end of a 1-down score.

The excitement for local links fans came courtesy of the first group, however.

There, Molly Mowatt and Rocco Scartelli staged a late-match rally that proved to be the ultimate difference for Paupack.

Mowatt battled her way to a 47 and a split of her individual match with Tyler Pittsman (47).

For his part, Scartelli waited until the final green to make his big move.

Rocco hit a beautiful approach to the par-4 ninth hole, then rolled in a clutch 5-foot birdie putt. This put the finishing touches on a round of 42 and enabled Scartelli to earn a split with Eric Woelkers (42).

Even more crucially, the birdie gave Paupack a 1-up win in better ball and swung the match in favor of the Buckhorns.

"How many times over the years have I told the kids how important better ball is?" Coach Simons mused. "Today, it was the difference between us making the playoffs and missing out."